Area standouts advance to Division I state track meet

TRACK AND FIELD

Austintown Fitch Division I Regional Meet

Federal League rivals Layne Studer of GlenOak and Jagger Foxx of Perry advanced to the Division I state meet with the top two performances in the boys pole vault competition Wednesday night at Austintown Fitch High School.

Studer won the boys pole vault regional title with a result of 15-feet, 2-inches and Foxx finished second at 14-10.

Five field events and two relays on the track were scored Wednesday along with several preliminary races. The other remaining running finals and field events will be scored Friday.

Leena Patibandla of Jackson won the girls high jump regional title with a jump of 5-4 and Deleaun Dabney of Canton McKinley took second at 5-2.

Malachi Collier of Maple Heights on the boys long jump regional crown at 22-6.25. Tallmadge teammates Riley Murphy (22-1.75) and Ben Hudak (21-10) finished second and third in the event.

Mentor's Ada Sabo, Nora Kraska, Kylie Beucler and Savannah Dennison placed first in the girls 3,200 relay in 9:28.28. Stow's Kendra Cassiday, Sydney Pitcovich, Deena Ingrassia and Jayla Atkinson were second in 9:33.85. Hudson's Story Jones, Ellie Gallagher, Ruby Jacops and Lauren Pacsi finished third in 9:38.79.

Louisville's Owen Pukys, Stephen Ulrich, Colby Adams and Bobby Ganser won the boys 3,200 relay in 7:54.01.

SOFTBALL

Macedonia Division II Regional Semifinal

Archbishop Hoban 12, Field 4

Junior Nylah Durham went 4-for-4 with three doubles, a single, three RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Knights past the Falcons in a regional semifinal at Nordonia on Wednesday.

Hoban is set to meet Triway in a regional final at 5 p.m. Friday at Nordonia.

The Knights finished with 18 hits and the Falcons had 10.

Hoban's Kennedy Bray totaled two singles, a double and a run, Sidney Conti hit three singles and had an RBI and Lexi Hart contributed a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to cap the scoring.

Field's leading hitters were Carlee Chambers (two-run triple); Devon Carpenter (two singles, run); Kelly Troup (RBI double) and Sarah Rufener (three walks, single, run).

Hoban scored the final nine runs in the game to erase a 4-3 deficit.

Hoban leadoff hitter Lacie Quarles smacked two doubles and scored two runs and Taylor Gerring doubled, scored a run and had an RBI. Hoban's Robyn Ryan and Ellie Hardman each finished with a single, RBI and a run; Mackenzie Wood added a two-run double and scored a run and Chloe Foster scored two runs.

BASEBALL

North Ridgeville Division II District Final

Archbishop Hoban 8, Norton 3

The third-seeded Knights (19-9) jumped out to a three-run lead after one and Noah LaFine (5-2) threw five innings of one-hit ball and struck out seven to lift Hoban to its second consecutive district title.

The reigning state-champion Knights won with a collective effort over the eighth-seeded Panthers (15-11).

Nolan Holmgren (single, double, two runs), Zack Zimmerman (three singles, RBI, two runs), Shawn Parnell (single, two RBIs), Nate Shimmel (single, double, two RBIs) and Parker Falkenstein (single, two RBIs) highlighted a nine-hit day.

They move on to play the winner of the Fremont District, which hasn’t played a semifinal game yet.

“This gives us a lot of momentum,” LaFine said. “We know we can do it again. Winning district is always a fun thing. Everyone gets excited about it. It never gets old.”

Norton made things interesting late in its second district final in four years. Logan Miller’s two-run single in the sixth made it 7-3 and the Panthers left runners on first and third in the seventh.

Miller, Carter Metz, Caleb Ogg and Dylan Madonia leave as starters for Norton, but have shown the underclassmen the blueprint.

“No one expected us to be here in Northeast Ohio,” Panthers coach Jack Pecnik said. “This year taught them how to win and how to compete. Having 10 first-year letter-winners and five second-year letter-winners and losing the COVID year and having a rough year last year, we’re going to come back hungry and healthy.”

— Compiled by Jeff Deckerd, Brad Bournival and Michael Beaven

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Stow, Hudson, Tallmadge track stars, Hoban baseball and softball advance